Fuel-air mixer



y 2, 1956 K. HOLZHAUSEN 2,746,851

FUEL-AIR MIXER Filed Oct. 29, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 22, 1956 Filed Oct. 29, 1952 K. HOLZHAUSEN 2,746,851

FUEL-AIR MIXER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 4. W}! J W United States Patent FUEL-AIR MIXER Karl Holzhausen, Altena, Westphalia, Germany Application October 29, 1952, Serial No. 317,423 Claims priority, application Germany November 3, H51

3 Claims. (Cl. 48-180) The invention relates to an auxiliary carburetor for internal combustion engines.

The carburetors employed in the operation of internalcombustion engines make use of the intake air to disperse the fuel through nozzles in more or less finely divided form, but with incomplete vaporization, depending on the partial pressure of the intake air. Vaporization is incomplete because it is a function of time and surface area. The available exposure time is limited. Surface area is determined by the size of the particles in the dis persion, with various sizes of particles resulting from various structural means of dispersing the fuel in the carburetor, and consequent differences in the effectiveness of the latter.

To improve vaporization, carburetors have been provided with auxiliary carburetors, i. e. devices which e. g. for acceleration may discharge a fuel jet into the intake line, the power of an internal combustion engine being dependent on weight of fuel per stroke, among other factors. Here again, dispersion and vaporization are limited because the time is too short for the comparatively large size of particles, i. e. small specific surface area. The engine is accelerated by these means, but fuel consumption per unit time or unit power output is excessive.

In the past, in recognition of the incompleteness of vaporization, rotary diffusers, centrifugal rotors and screw blades have been employed for direct atomizing and diffusion of the fuel, or for control of fuel supply in floatless, surface-type and injection carburetors. These elements have been placed in the intake line, sometimes with external and independent drive, either with an adjustable throttle or with a turbine driving a centrifugal rotor on the same shaft to vaporize or more completely vaporize the mixture. These proposals have proved impracticable because they require the use of struts, inserts or discs to support the rotary part, with a resulting undesired throttling effect, or because, in the case of independent drive, excessive expenditure or modification was required, or because of operating difliculties. Another difiiculty has been that the shape, design and inclination of the centrifugal blades has been based on arbitrary considerations rather than on aerodynamic principles, with resulting chaotic flow, unreliable rotational speed, and more or less indeterminate lag with respect to the original flow velocity.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an auxiliary carburetor eliminating these defects and permitting complete vaporization of the fuel.

This object has been accomplished essentially by construction of the auxiliary carburetor in accordance with the principles of aerodynamics and turbine engineering, both in arrangement and in blade form, as a singleor multiple-stage turbine with rotors and stators, the former being of practically negligible mass and inertia, and the stators serving respectively to support the rotors.

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An auxiliary carburetor according to the present invention meets the applicable requirements of complete vaporization, maximum weight of charge per stroke, uniform distribution of mixture in all cylinders, optimum acceleration with change in rotational speed, and hence maximum economy together with minimum pressure drop, with the additional advantage that the auxiliary carburetor is simple in design, may be installed in any engine in a matter of minutes without modification or change of intake lines, and requires no external drive.

In the accompanying drawing, an embodiment of the carburetor according to the invention is shown by way of example.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a carburetor installed in the the intake line, in median longitudinal section; and Fig. 2 shows a top view of the same. Fig. 3 shows a multi-stage type turbine.

In order that the fuel-air mixture emerging from a main carburetor of conventional design may encounter a maximum surface area for evaporation, or vaporization, per unit time, an auxiliary carburetor is installed between the outlet flange c of the conventional carburetor and flange d of the intake line of the internal combustion engine, the said auxiliary carburetor comprising a rotor a of practically negligible mass and inertia and a stator b, an essential feature being the type of blading, based on a thoroughgoing application of the principles of turbine design. As a result, the rotor at assumes a rotational speed corresponding to the flow velocity, without retardation or slippage. Further, the blading is such that any unvaporized particle will necessarily strike the stator b, where, with the aid of its high velocity, it is dispersed by impact on the blades, these two effects ideally complementing each other. It is also to be noted that the nature of the invention precludes any throttling of the gas-air mixture because there is no support by struts, inserts, etc., in the usual sense, this function being performed by the stator b; in addition, the intake and exhaust sides, respectively, of the rotor a and stator b are of streamlined form.

Another advantage consists in that, owing to the absolutely positive action, and in addition to high efliiciency of mixture and evaporation, the mixture acquires a supplementary quantity of motion due tomomentum and spin, thus affording a greater weight of charge per stroke, as well as uniform distribution among the cylinders in multicylinder engines. At the same time, however, this means that for desired acceleration, or increase in rotational speed, a smooth transition and flexible operation are afforded, to an extent previously attainable only by means of accelerator pumps. Pick-up is improved.

Figures 1 and 2 show a single-stage embodiment. If required, however, the auxiliary carburetor may be of multi-stage type, as shown in Fig. 3. All of these features of the auxiliary turbine carburetor according to the invention combine to produce optimum elficiency and effect a not inconsiderable fuel consumption.

What I claim is:

l. The combination of an internal combustion engine with an auxiliary carburetor of the turbine type installed in the air and fuel passage between the outlet of the main carburetor of said internal combustion engine and the intake of the same, said auxiliary carburetor comprising a stator positioned across the air and fuel passage and peripherally secured therein, and comprising imperforate stationary blades of turbodynamic design extending substantially completely across the air and fuel passage for guiding the air and fuel through said stator, a centrally disposed nose-like pointed projection on said stator extending axially 'of the air and fuel passage on both sides of the stator, at least one rotor mounted on said projection and solely supported thereby comprising imperforate vanes of turbodynamic design extending across the air and fuel passage.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a plurality of rotors are mounted on said projection. s

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein at least'one rotor is mounted on each side of said stator.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Heath Sept. 21, 1915 Burke Jan. 9, 1917 May June 20, 1922 Grivin May 19, 1931 Reid June 7, 1938 Barabino Feb. 11, 1947 

1. THE COMBINATION OF AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE WITH AN AUXILIARY CARBURETOR OF THE TURBINE TYPE INSTALLED IN THE AIR AND FUEL PASSAGE BETWEEN THE OUTLET OF THE MAIN CARBURETOR OF SAID INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AND THE INTAKE OF THE SAME, SAID AUXILIARY CARBURETOR COMPRISING A STATOR POSITIONED ACROSS THE AIR AND FUEL PASSAGE AND PERIPHERALLY SECURED THEREIN, AND COMPRISING IMPERFORATE STATIONARY BLADES OF TURBODYNAMIC DESIGN EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETELY ACROSS THE AIR AND FUEL PASSAGE FOR GUIDING THE AIR AND FUEL THROUGH SAID STATOR, A CENTRALLY DISPOSED NOSE-LIKE POINTED PROJECTION ON SAID STATOR EXTENDING AXIALLY OF THE AIR AND FUEL PASSAGE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STATOR, AT LEAST ONE ROTOR MOUNTED ON SAID PROJECTION AND SOLELY SUPPORTED THEREBY COMPRISING IMPERFORATE VANXES OF TURBODYNAMIC DESIGN EXTENDING ACROSS THE AIR AND FUEL PASSAGE. 